Federal money likely to provide housing for homeless

Funding likely to provide housing for homelessFederal money would pay rent in 72-unit project on north side

Published 5:30 am, Wednesday, July 2, 2003

After being shut out of federal funding for two years, local agencies said Tuesday they have found a way to secure financing for a new apartment project for the homeless.

It would be the first such facility to open in Houston since 1996.

The Harris County Housing Authority agreed Tuesday to ask the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide rent subsidies for a 72-unit, single-room occupancy project on Houston's north side. Officials said the application has a strong chance of being approved.

In 2001 and 2002, HUD officials refused to accept applications for such projects, known as SROs, from the Housing Authority of the City of Houston. HUD said ongoing problems with one SRO overseen by the Houston authority raised questions about its management ability.

When it became apparent that these problems would not be resolved in time for this year's round of funding applications, local advocates for the homeless turned to other area agencies to sponsor applications for new SRO projects. Federal rules require that the applications be made by a public housing authority but do not prohibit the county from applying for a project in the city.

Houston now has 270 subsidized SRO units -- small apartments owned by nonprofits that also provide job training, substance abuse treatment and other services to people who have been homeless. By comparison, some other major cities have thousands of SRO apartments.

Advocates say the apartments are badly needed. The latest estimates show that the number of homeless people in Houston, about 10,000, is double the number of beds in local shelters.

"By offering homeless people their own apartment, as opposed to a shelter bed, you increase the likelihood of people being willing to come off the street," said Earl Hatcher, executive director of the Houston SRO Housing Corp., which will be the managing agent for the new SRO if its funding is approved.

The facility would be owned by New Directions Inc., a nonprofit that previously operated a halfway house for parolees at 607 Thornton. The halfway house had to close earlier this year because of state budget cuts, Hatcher said. That building would undergo minor renovations to become the SRO.

Tenants would pay 30 percent of their income, or a minimum of $50 per month, to live in the facility. The federal subsidies would cost $3.3 million over 10 years.

The county housing authority needs to oversee 200 SRO units to recover its administrative costs, Hatcher said. He is hopeful of bringing the agency proposals for two 100-unit SROs next year.

The city housing authority, meanwhile, continues efforts to resolve the problems cited by HUD with its administration of a north Houston SRO known as SHED. A key problem involves insufficient certification that the tenants had been homeless.